opera and concerts in london and beyond

02 January 2012

Royal Opera and ENO use microphones

"They’ve used microphones in opera houses. The Royal Opera has but they’ll never admit it, English National Opera have too, but they’ll never admit it either because they’re too proud and too stupid."

“I think I’ve probably shot myself in the foot for a while with the opera world as far as roles are concerned,” he says. “No big houses are going to employ me after what I said on radio. I might be wrong but I’m not seeing any sign of it. I’d love to work for them again but I have an opinion.”

Alfie may not understand the difference between having an opinion and sharing one, but I don't think he's dishonest. What are the chances of the opera houses owning up?

Oh, and by the way, Boe is no great loss to opera. His ENO performances have suggested that he could be a useful light to character-tenor - say the Terry Jenkins de nos jours - but he's only ever going to be a leading man with a microphone at Covent Garden. He's delusional if he thinks he could cut it in any of the world's most important opera houses without one. He should stop whingeing and learn from the example Lesley Garrett, who is doing fine without slagging off her art-form. But then she had a real opera career, as an outstanding character soprano, before she became a television personality.

A friend with sharp ears and eyes swears that microphones were used in a recent production of Cherubini's Medée at La Monnaie - this may have been because of this opera's spoken dialogue, of course. I didn't see this production myself so this is only hearsay!

Body mikes were used for some performers on opening night of the Met's Faust. That performance was transmitted via webcast as well as satellite radio; as usual there were plenty of visible mikes at the edge of the stage (most Met performances are broadcast live via Sirius radio). I didn't spot the body mikes during a second performance in the house, nor in the HD transmission.

I wish they would fess up. It's a ridiculous anachronism is this day and age, given the powerful instruments and large halls in which opera is performed. This really struck me during the Met's recent Rodelinda. The harpsicord and recorders gave the musical accompaniment a lightness and boyancy, leaving the voice exposed and audible in a way that is absent in later operas.

I once asked Elaine Padmore whether microphones or any sort of amplification were used at performances the ROH and she said "absolutely not, only for announcements".

I have also asked a very close and reliable ROH source who denied it.

The last time an opera company admitted to using it was at the Ring Cycle in Adelaide in 2004 where they felt technology could "distribute" the sound more efficiently" although they stressed it didn't or wouldn't "amplify it".

Well, there are mikes and mikes aren't there? We are all used to seeing them when a performance is being broadcast or recorded--and I assume that every broadcast is recorded nowadays by the house. Maybe this is incorrect, but it would not surprise me if they do.

I have little experience of live opera, but certainly my recent visits to the Met (Rodelinda, Boheme, Faust) included no amplification, as voices became fainter when the artists turned toward the back of the stage, or moved to the other end of the stage (I was sitting on the side for Faust).

A visit to a musical theater production showed the obvious difference in sound when singers are miked for amplification, an effect simply not heard in my experience at the Met.

It's very easy to tell. Just close your eyes and try to place the singer, focussing on the sibilants. If you can identify where the singer is standing, or even better, moving, and they are in the same place when you open your eyes, there are no microphones. Admittedly there are some seats at the ROH where this won't work, where the sound bounces off the side walls, but it's a very reliable test. The ROH do use mikes to (over)-amplify some quiet instruments when they have solos - harp, celesta, guitar and the like. The loudspeakers are visible either side of the stage, also in the amphi. But not voices, except for special productions, and the day they start is the day I give up going.

This would be the same Alfred Boe who now practically says, " Ee by eck" every other sentence to emphasis his "northern working class" roots? We have heard it all before from those "opera singers", KJ, RW etc who just cannot sing without a mike!

At the San Diego Opera in the 90's, I remarked to an usher after the performance about what a powerful voice the baritone had (it was "Carmen", I think). He laughed and pointed at the stage. "See those small white dots? Those are microphones, OF COURSE he had a powerful voice".

Considering the rep I like (Schreker, Korngold, Zemlinsky, 12-tone stuff), I'd *love* it if they mic'd singers up, there's very few voices that can cut through a 110-piece orchestra in full cry. Of course, voice purists would howl, but that would be an added bonus.

I have just received an email from Amazon which says: "As you've recently shown an interest in opera CDs, we thought you might like to know about our current bestselling titles" - and the first of these is

This is obviously a very popular album (and very inexpensive at only £3.99), but I love one of the rare negative reviews which says :"I would rather put a biscuit tin on my head and beat it with metal spoons than listen to Alfie Boe, but my wife just loves it!"

*****************************************
Intermezzo replies - looking at the reviews, it seems a lot of customers bought it for their wives. No wonder the divorce rate is so high.

Just had a peek at Manou's link. Alfie gets an amazing 96 reviews, nearly all of them positive. Look for any baroque opera recordings on Amazon and you'll be lucky to get even two reviews (usually from musicologists in obscure universities). Even more worrying, in the "People who bought this also bought" section, as well as the usual suspects, you will find recordings of Rolando Villazon. Not too flattering for RV is it? If this makes me an elitist old git, let's say that I'm out and proud!

*******************************************
Intermezzo replies - I think it's fair to assume that Alfie Boe outsells baroque opera by an exponential margin. But then so does Katherine Jenkins.

I don't really understand why these mediocrities have to resort to lies to plug their already well-selling products. Surely it should be sufficient to say "Buy my product, it's really good - and better than the rest" rather than "Look at me, everybody else is scum with personality defects and your mum.".

My goodness gracious. Some people sure have it in for Alfie Boe. "He can't sing well, he can't sing at all, he's not a real operatic tenor, he lies, he talks like a Northerner." Alfie must have a skin as thick as a rhinoceros by now. I like the way Alfie sings (opera, pop. rock or whatever), and I like his forthrightness. Keep on, Alfie. You haven't earned kudos in La Boheme, your other opera roles, Les Mis, your CDs and concerts by not having talent. Singing well is the best revenge. Go for it!

They are not really 'reviews,' though, are they - mostly just drooling. Hilary Finch (of the 'Times') wrote an hilarious, genuine review of Boe's London concert, using such unusual (for her) terms as 'stomach churning' and saying that he should decide whether he is 'an upmarket Les Dawson or a downmarket Andrea Bocelli.'

InterMezzo - here is the Hilary Finch review (cannot link to it because you have to be a subscriber to read it).

You decide whether to post it or not!

"Alfie Boe at the Festival Hall

Hilary Finch
Last updated December 8 2011 1:12PM

So, Alfie — what’s it all about? The tenor from Fleetwood, Lancs, who left the toffs in the elitist world of opera who had trained him and given him a technique, and set out to be a rebel, is currently on the road on an extended British tour.
Still marketed very much as the lad who prefers to do it his way, Boe is serving up a long evening of, well, the same old songs: from the shows, from the silver screen, from yesteryear. Of course, there’s more money, more adulation and a lot less work involved in this than in learning and developing long and testing operatic roles. Crooning your way through the tracks on your latest album, over and over again, must be irresistible, especially with a mike to hold on to.
But different? Rebellious? If only. With the Heart of England Philharmonic amplified so loudly that it was difficult to tell an oboe from a cello, and souped up into a magenta-lit mush by the baton of James Morgan, Boe gave us On the Wheels of a Dream (Stars and Stripes unfurling on the video), Hushaby Mountain, Some Enchanted Evening, a James Bond medley (nobody does it better?) and a Christmas carol. And more of the same, all sung in very much the same way — from hushed and throaty to loud, very loud and pounding into applause.
So what exactly was new? Well, perhaps the more gruesome items on the set list: a duet of mind-numbing banality with Matt Lucas; a spotlit moment for the tiny child from Les Misérables, her juvenile vibrato and party frock all the more grotesque when severed from context; and one or two moments of stilted pas de deux with Melanie C. Oh, and a home movie of Boe and little daughter, to the strains of — you’ve guessed it — In my Daughter’s Eyes.
If this wasn’t enough to turn the stomach and chill the blood, there was the embarrassingly slack banter which really will have to be brushed up. Boe’s next career move must be to decide whether he wants to be a downmarket Andrea Bocelli or an upmarket Les Dawson. And then work on it.
Hilary Finch

The Bring Him Home British tour continues until Feb 4 (alfieboeuk.com)"

Alfie's not wrong about opera houses using microphones, he's just wrong about them not admitting to it. It was just a silly off-the-cuff comment. They are used under particular circumstances when the production requires it (e.g. Nixon In China). However some of the other things he says about opera houses not doing enough to widen the audience for opera are quite sensible. And I thought he sang well in ENO's Mikado. But when it comes to his CD and concerts I'm in the biscuit tin brigade.